Birthday
by Silent Angel 1291
Summary: Sequel to Family. After completing a mission, Neji is asked to do Renren a favor. Following an observation made by a reviewer. NejiTen.


Title: Birthday

Summary: Sequel to Family. After completing a mission, Neji is asked to do Renren a favor. Following an observation made by a reviewer. NejiTen.

Dedicated to: White-Dragon-of-Hope. I love you! You gave me the idea for this!!! You get a Renren plushy!! Congrats to you!!

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Note (please read):** **Slight AU; Naruto and Sasuke never leave, but the story isn't about Naruto or Sasuke, which is why I didn't mention it in the summary. **

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Neji was waiting impatiently at the trunk of a tree, waiting for Tenten to get back from her supposed bathroom break so that they could get the pay for the mission that they just returned from. It was one of Gai's odd rules that all of the team had to be there before anyone was allowed his or her pay.

Neji stood up fully as he saw Tenten coming from a distance, ready to yell at her. Really, what kind of a bathroom break took a half an hour?! However, as soon as Neji saw who was with Tenten, he stopped.

"RENREN-CHAN!!" Lee cheered.

Neji had discovered Tenten's secret a year and a half ago and Lee had become very familiar with the youngest sister in that time. Neji, of course, loved the four-year-old to death but would go tap dancing with Gai and Lee while **_smiling_** before he admitted that to anyone.

Renren looked up at him, her smile huge. "LeeLee! Neji-papa!"

Inside, Neji's heart melted into a bubbling, brewing, lukewarm puddle of goop. On the outside, Neji's lips tugged upward in a very small, barely noticeable smile. Tenten giggled.

"She wanted to ask you a favor, but she wouldn't tell me what."

Neji nodded and knelt down by the small girl, waiting as she leaned over and whispered into his ear.

"Will you help me go shopping?"

Neji fought back a smile, knowing that Tenten's birthday was the next day. He collected his pay from Gai, as did his teammates, before picking Renren up. "I'll bring her back home in a few hours." He told Tenten. She nodded and Neji walked away from the group toward the market place in the village. When they arrived, Neji set the girl on the ground and asked her what she wanted to get. She looked around excitedly and ran to a booth that had flowers all over and around it.

"Mommy likes flowers…" Renren had taken to calling Tenten "Mommy", seeing as she never knew either of her real parents.

"Neji-san! Hi!!" An incredibly annoying high-pitched voice squealed. Perfect. The booth just _had_ to belong to Yamanaka Ino. And, of course, Nara Shikamaru just _had_ to be helping her run it. Fate sure had a sick sense of humor. Renren stared up at the older girl, seemingly mesmerized by her long, almost platinum blonde hair. It took a minute for Ino to look down and notice her. "Hello!! What's your name, you little Sweetheart?"

"Renren. I'm four and a half!" She said with a bright smile.

"Oh, really? What are you doing here today?"

"I'm shopping with my Daddy."

Ino's eyes shot up to Neji and widened. "Your Daddy?"

"Yep." She said, picking up some flowers. She turned around and looked at Neji. "Neji-papa, come on!"

Neji walked forward and picked Renren up so that she could see the flowers that were located higher in the booth. "So, uhh, what are you two doing to day?"

"We're buying birthday presents for my Mommy."

"What's your Mom's name?" Shikamaru asked.

"Tenten." Shikamaru slid off the stool in the back of the booth that he was sitting on and landed on the floor while Ino stared at them with wide eyes. Suddenly Renren gasped in delight. "Nar-nar!!" She cried happily, struggling to get free of Neji's grasp. He set her down on the ground and she ran off. He turned to see the blonde kitsune-boy get tackled by the small girl.

Neji turned back to Ino, expecting to pay, and was met with shocked stares, both from Ino and Shikamaru (who was still on the floor). Neji sighed in exasperation. "I'm not really her father, you know."

"But she said-"

Neji glared at them. "Honestly, she four and a half. I'm four months away from being fifteen. I would have been ten when she was born. Tenten isn't her mother, which is obvious considering that she is turning fifteen tomorrow. Renren and Tenten are sisters and Tenten takes care of her."

"Oh." Ino sighed in relieve. "I thought that-"

"I know what you thought." He allowed a few bills to fall from his hand to the counter. "That's for the flowers." He then turned and walked toward Naruto, who was throwing a squealing Renren up into the air and catching her.

As Neji neared the pair, he noticed that the Uchiha was leaning up against the wall of the building, watching the blonde carefully. Ah, of course; Naruto couldn't get far without his ever-present shadow.

"Naruto." Neji called half-heartedly. "I have to get Renren home."

"But Neji-papa!!" Renren protested. "You still have to get Mommy something!!"

"Alright, well, let's go then."

Renren ran to take his hand and noticed Sasuke. She paused, smiled, and waved at him. "Bye-bye, Shadow!" She then ran to Neji and grasped his hand.

Sasuke blinked in confusion. "Shadow?"

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Renren and Neji walked further into the market when suddenly Renren gasped happily and attempted to drag Neji to a booth. "Look, Neji-papa, pretty!!"

Neji looked to where she was attempting to lead him and saw a booth that was selling jewelry made from sea shells run by a withered old lady. This old lady happened to have poor eyesight, but she had made the type of jewelry that she sold all of her life and her hands now knew the movements by heart and eyesight was no longer needed. This ment, of course, that she didn't realize Neji's true age when he stepped up to the booth.

"Neji-papa, what about this one?" Renren asked, holding up a sparkling pink necklace.

"That's very beautiful; I'm sure that Tenten will like it." While he was looking around, he spied a bracelet that was made of pale lavender shells and picked it up.

When he turned to pay the old women, she had a kind smile on her face. "Your daughter is very kind, sir. Thank you for your purchase."

He opened his mouth to correct her, but paused and let a secret little smile settle on his face. "Thank you."

He picked up Renren and walked away.

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Hours after taking Renren home, when everyone in the apartment was asleep, Neji slipped in through the window. It was passed midnight, meaning that it was officially Tenten's birthday. She was asleep on the couch, as per usual. He silently walked over to her and carefully slipped the bracelet onto her wrist. She sighed in her sleep, but did not wake up. Carefully, he slowly bent down and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, a gentle smile had spread across her face. "Happy birthday, Tenten." He whispered before moving to the window. He was about to leave, but decided to do one last thing before leaving.

He cracked open the door that Renren and one of her older sisters, Sensen (yes, Tenten's parents were incredibly creative). She was laying half on the bed, half off the bed with the covers tangled around her legs. He smiled and gently picked her up before laying her right on the bed and covering her with the blankets. After accomplishing that, he headed out of Renren's window.

In the living room, Tenten slowly raised her hand up to touch her lips, smiling excitedly. She had been awake since the first moment the window opened, but had pretended to be asleep. Honestly, she was a female ninja with children sleeping in her home, and he expected her to just sleep through someone coming in through the window, touching her, and moving her?

Well, nevermind that. She would have to think of a plan on what to do with Neji in the morning. Now, she needed sleep. As she closed her eyes, she remembered something that Renren had said a few weeks ago.

_"Mommy?"_

_"Yes, Honey?"_

_"When are you and Neji-papa going to get married?"_

_Tenten's drink had made it all the way across the room because she was so startled._

Tenten laughed quietly before settling down on the couch, relaxing, and getting ready to enjoy her birthday.

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Owari_

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S.A.: Okay, I don't know how well this one turned out. I don't even know if I got my point across. Hell, I even forget what my point was. Doesn't matter. I know that there was a suspicious lack of Tenten in this one, but I hope that the little scene at the end made up for it. And the little kiss. Well, I hope you enjoyed.

Oh, yes, and I'm slowly falling in love with Renren and her cuteness, so I'm thinking of doing a Yaoi-flavored spin-off where Naruto and Sasuke are babysitting Renren and she becomes convinced that they are in love. If you do not like Yoai, please be mature about it and just state "Yeah, well, you know, Yaoi's not really my thing." If I get any messages like "EWW!! Yaoi!? That is so gross." I will lose all respect that I had for you.

Yeah, so, please review and tell me what you think about me doing the spin-off. Once again, I apologize for the lack of Tenten.


End file.
